The Lost Soldiers Arc
by PhantomSilverCrystal
Summary: In Japan, everybody knows Sailor Moon is boss, but what happens when evil forces attack the good ol' US of A? Does Mittie James find her destiny? Who is Sailor Spring? REWRITE OF "LOVE IS" TAKES PLACE IN SM CLASSIC ARC. Read and Respond :
1. The Lost Soldiers

Once, the solar system lived in peace. All the planets, from Mercury to Pluto, lived in legion, depending on one another for guidance and hope in darkest times. This time was known as the Silver Millennium and has been long forgotten by the people of Earth.

The most famous story of the Silver Millennium is that of the Earth Prince Darien and the Moon Princess Serena. Their love story was passed from generation to generation as the forgotten tales of the Sailor Orbits faded into the distance.


	2. Eclipse Awakens: Ordinary Girl?

_A/N: This story is a rewrite/edit. The original storyline is under the name "Love is a Total Eclipse of the Heart" and can be found on my page. Thanks for reading!_

The sun was hot the day that changed Matlyda James's life forever. She was an ordinary girl. Average. She was and average height and weight, with average brown hair, and average grades. Mittie, as her friends called her, never particularly liked school, but there was something about this day that had made her want to stay home sick.

Having overslept, she ran to class. It was Friday and this, unfortunately, was third time that week she had burst into class after the bell. And the Dragon-Lady was not a patient woman. That was what all the kids called the 70-something year old English teacher. When Mittie walked in, the Dragon-Lady was staring at the door. Nobody said anything for a really long time- all the other kids in the class were waiting for the blow up.

"Miss James," Dragon-Lady began, "Just what do you think you're doing? Isn't it bad enough that you were late today? Get to your seat and stop causing distractions in my class."

"Yes, Ma'am." Mittie quietly scanned the room and saw that the only open seat was next to a boy she'd never even noticed before. It was May and she'd never noticed him? "_How was that even possible?" _She wondered. The Dragon-Lady scowled and quickly she took the seat.

Mittie, who was filled with almost unhealthy amounts of curiosity, spent the whole class thinking about the boy she was sitting next to. He was tall and lanky, barely fitting in his desk. He had a strange shade of hair: somewhere between black and purple. He wasn't the kind who faded into the wallpaper, but somehow he'd managed to go undetected.

"_Where did he come from? I seriously doubt he's actually new_," She thought. "_I wonder, though. Is it possible that I just didn't even realize he was here all year?"_

The bell interrupted her thoughts and she stood up to leave.

"Excuse me," A soft masculine voice stopped her. "Mittie? I think you dropped this."

The boy knew her name, so he definitely wasn't new. She was frozen and speechless, a rare combination for our heroine. He grabbed her hand and pressed cold metal into it. "Thanks," She began, "Um…"

"You don't know my name, do you?" He looked annoyed at the realization. His eyes were icy blue. It was hard for her to imagine not having noticed them before. She shook her head. "Charlie. I'm Charlie." He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out.

It took her a second to come back to life. What a strange person. In any case, she needed to get to second period Spanish class. That was the first class she had with her best friend, Twig. Twig was super cynical, almost pessimistic, so she and Mittie, an optimist, were perfect best friends. They kept each other in check. Twig had long, wavy copper-colored hair and bright brown eyes.

"Mittie? Are you okay? Earth to Mittie!"

"I'm fine, Twig. I just- do you know a boy named Charlie?"

"No… Why?" She wanted to know. "Is that Prince Charming's name?"

"No reason, I-"

"No se permite hablar!" Señor Cummings exclaimed.

So the girls shut up for the time being. Mittie fiddled with what was in her hand. She looked down at the necklace_. I almost completely forgot! Charlie thought I dropped this, but I've never even seen this thing before in my life. Sure is pretty, though._

It was a round silver pendant on a gold chain. The charm was split. It looked like a crescent moon, and a circle with a star in the middle. _Maybe it couldn't hurt to put it on…_

XXX

That night, Mittie and Twig were supposed to meet up with some friends at the movies. But their friends were running really late.

"Where the hell are they?" Twig asked for the third time in 10 minutes. "Lilah and Tommy were supposed to be here forever ago!"

"I didn't know the last time you asked. Maybe they forgot?" After the strange day she'd had (Charlie had showed up in her biology class, too.), she'd almost completely forgotten herself. Lilah was Twig's best friend from elementary school, from before she and Mittie had met, and Tommy's mom was Mittie's godmother. It was a very small world because they, Lilah and Tommy, were actually dating now.

"Oh!" Twig said as her phone buzzed. "Text from Lil! 'Running late. Get tickets without us.'"

"Typical Lilah. Bet she forgot to fill up her tank again." Mittie really liked Lilah, but the girl was almost as spacey as Mittie was herself.

"Oh, well." They walked up to the ticket booth.

The wind was knocked out of Mittie as she saw who was standing there. "Charlie?"

"Hm. Guess we just keep running into each other, today." He rolled his eyes.

"Ohhhhh," Twig said knowingly. "YOU'RE Charlie." Mittie stepped on her foot. With a smile, Mittie asked for two tickets, please, and the girls were on their way.

"Who was that? He's cute." Mittie had to agree, but there was something weird about him, too.

"He's in my English class… And my bio class… And he works at the movie theater." Mittie replied. "We, um, met today."

"So he's new?"

"I don't think so. He's just quiet."

They took their seats. The lights went down and the previews started. Soon, Tommy, who was wearing his usual skinny jeans and v-neck shirt, escorted Lilah in. She was very punk rock, with a mod dress and tights. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, blonde braid down her back.

The four of them were squished in the crowded theater, but everything was hushed. The movie started, and ended and as they got up to leave, someone closer to the back shouted.

"The doors are locked!"

All of a sudden, the room filled with black smoke. People hacked and coughed and fainted. Everyone in the whole room was left unconscious, except, of course for Mittie. A man with long blue hair and his arms crossed seemed to stand on a cloud of the smoke.

"I think," He said with a deep voice, "That the Queen will like this very much. Your filthy human energy will serve her very well!" From his fingertips shot beams of what looked like black light, but was in actuality shadows. The shadows formed two balls. One seemed to be a portal while the other formed a shadow person that started to suck the crowds' energy.

"Come back when they're sucked dry." He said to the Shadow Man and stepped through the portal.

Mittie instinctively clasped the charm around her neck. Strangely, it began to glow. The back had an inscription that lit up. She read it aloud, "Eclipse Orbit Power."

Then Mittie's hands began to glow. Then her arms, her feet, her legs. There was a bright light that blinded her. Swiftly she began to turn and felt the light change her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was now wearing a white leotard, a dark gray sailor collar with a yellow bow, a dark gray mini-skirt long white gloves, and long yellow boots. _What just happened?_ She thought as she felt the heavy tiara on her forehead. Her hair was tied back in a ballerina bun.

"AGH!" The Shadow Man shielded his eyes. His voice was scratchy. "Who are you?"

"I am a Pretty Sailor Soldier! Sailor Eclipse! I will fight to protect humanity and the people I care for. Those who target innocent people are my enemy, and I will destroy you!" She proclaimed. "Oh my god! Where did that come from?" She added under her breath.

A loud crash at the back of the theater startled Sailor Eclipse. She looked up to the projection room. The silhouette of a tall boy stood. He wore a sailor collar like she did, but his didn't have a bow and it was forest green. In place of the mini-skirt, he wore long green pants with a white stripe down each side. He had dark brown spiky hair and dark blue eyes.

"I'm with you, Eclipse. I am Sailor Spring and my mission is to defeat the creatures of the Negaverse. Starting with YOU." He said pointing to the Shadow Man.

"What do we do?" Eclipse implored.

"Watch!" Spring replied. "SPRING VINE ENTANGLE!" Vines shot from every direction and tied themselves around the Shadow Man, who let out a groggy yelp. "Your turn, Eclipse."

"Ok… If you say so…" She couldn't explain the next feeling if she tried. It was as though for the first time in her life, she wasn't just Mittie. She was this new person that felt full inside. She wasn't the shell of a person she used to be, she was full and there was hope that instead of being ordinary she could be extraordinary.

"ECLIPSE LIGHT," Energy filled her body. Her hands grew warm with orbs of light. "SHROUD!"

The orbs flew at the Shadow Man and as they hit him, he began to dissolve. The waves of energy returned to the crowd of people, who didn't wake up. The light returned to the room and the smoke dissipated. Except for the unconscious people, the room was back to normal.

"Sailor Spring! What's wrong with them?"

"They'll come to, soon enough. Don't worry about it, but if I were you, I'd power down." He said as he broke the lock on the door with a kick. Started out the door.

"Hey!"

"What?" he asked. "I've got to go."

"But you can't! I have so many questions! You have to help me understand!" She cried.

"Do you know the warehouse by the train tracks? If you can find it, I'll be waiting there, but be sure to change first. Our identities are too precious to risk it." And he was gone.

She changed back and watched as the first people began to wake up, but they just stood up and left like it was totally normal.

"The hell?" Tommy said, rubbing his head. "Mit, do you have and aspirin? I just got hit with a bitch of a headache."

"Um, no, sorry." She was surprised that that was the most anyone said on the way out.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. A Friend, An Enemy, A Transfer Student

_A/N: Okay, so if you read this before May 13, you'll notice that Mittie's last name has been changed from "Blake" to "James". My deepest apologies to Caroline B. Cooney from whom I accidentally I borrowed the name. (_Code Orange_ by C.B. Cooney has a main character named "Mitty Blake" who is a boy, but not the point. Sorry again, Caroline!)_

By the time Mittie finally found Spring's warehouse, it was totally dark outside, her friends were safe at home, and what happened at the theatre made less than no sense to her. The more she thought about it, in fact, the less it made sense. But after trekking all around the small town of Gordonsville, suburban paradise, she had finally found it. The doors were locked though, so she began to wonder if this wasn't the right place after all. Then she remembered something Spring had done. He had kicked a locked door and it came wide open. She counted off paces and ran at the door. In the instant before impact, she heard a voice from above.

"Hey, kiddo!"

Distracted, she fell flat on her back.

"That had to hurt," The voice called. "Come on get up. Party's up here!"

"Um, God?" Mittie asked.

"Please tell me you're joking."

She looked up and saw that Sailor Spring was peering over the edge of the flat roof. "How did he get up there?" She wondered aloud.

"Ladder, genius." Embarrassed, because she didn't realize he could hear her, she turned red. "Other side of the building.

"I'm not stupid!" she shouted back at him. Hurriedly, she found her way to the ladder and climbed up about two stories. On the way up, she silently hoped that Spring knew all the answers and wouldn't hold back. She prayed he wouldn't hate her or think she was actually stupid.

"What took you so long?" He asked with a smile as helped her off the ladder.

"Well you didn't exactly give me a map, did you?" She was suddenly hit with how pretty the skyline was and opened her mouth in awe. "Wow. What a sweet view!" She did a twirl and looked up at the stars.

"Have a seat." He waved his arm at the edge he'd been talking to her from before. She took a seat on the gravel and then he joined her, both of them dangling their legs from the side.

"So, I have a couple of questions," She started.

"So do I." He said with a chuckle. Mittie decided that he was going to be relatively easy to talk to.

"First of all, I guess, why me?"

"I have a theory," He answered slowly. "But first, I need to know: have you recently found a ring?"

"A ring? No… but I did find a necklace. It had an inscription and when I read it, well, this happened." She said gesturing to her current attire.

"I think that this jewelry finds people. Its gotta have magic in it or something, I just haven't figured it out, yet. I have no idea why it chose us."

"Us?"

"You know," He said nudging her, "You and Me. Us. With the Superpowers."

"No," she smiled, " I mean are there more people out there like us?"

"Let's see." He pretended to count on his fingers. "Well, there's me (that's one) and you (that's two) and- nope. Just the two of us I think. But I guess there could be more. I thought it was just me until tonight. So, looks like we're a team now, kid."

"Cool." She couldn't help but feel happy about that thing about being a team. She extended her hand for a handshake. "Put 'er there, partner."

XXX

Somewhere, not so far away, there was another alliance: one of a far darker nature. All the trouble at the movies earlier had been meticulously planned in this place, where a tall man with long blue hair stood. He had a crystal ball sitting on a chess table. It played showed one of his Shadow Men, being destroyed by a couple of teenagers.

When the Queen hears about this, he thought, I will have some serious explaining to do.

The crystal began to flash with pink lights, and he knew that time had come.

"Cerulean!" A loud voice boomed through the tunnels of the hideout. "Present yourself! NOW!"

"Yes, Queen Fuchsia?" He said upon entering the Queen's Chambers, coat tails of his military uniform flowing behind him. He bowed and waited for her to say something.

"Well?" She asked calmly. "I suppose that you'd like a chance to explain the failure from earlier?"

Sighing heavily, he began. "You see—"

"No excuses." She stepped down from her golden throne. Her gown was a deep rose, and it was very old fashioned. Her skin was a smooth, dark almond color. Her eyes and hair were glossy brown. "Don't you know that we have a bigger purpose here? I have to find him. We are here for the Prince and I would appreciate if you would pretend to be productive."

"I understand." Cerulean replied subordinately. "Next time, I will be sure to collect the energy you need to wake up your other servants. I promise."

"Promises never solve anything." She said returning to the throne. "Tomorrow, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Be gone."

XXX

Mittie's weekend was relatively quiet, after the whole movie theatre fiasco. She and Spring had spent the whole night talking until practically the break of dawn and she found that she really enjoyed his company. They had decided to meet there after every battle. She slept really well that night and the next. When she woke up on Friday, she was nobody, but when she went to bed, she had saved lives.

Monday, she was more than ready for school and actually made it there on time. This time, she _chose_ to sit by Charlie. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she felt like he had something to do with the whole situation. After all, who had given her the necklace? Charlie. And who had been at the movie theatre? Well, actually, lots of people, but among them? Charlie. He had to be Sailor Spring.

"Hi!" She said with a big smile. "How are you, Charlie?"

"Oh, you know my name, today? Should I be flattered?" He said coolly, shooting her daggers from his icy blue eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, I guess," her heart sank.

"Class." The Dragon-Lady said as the bell rang. "This is Valerie Primrose. She is a transfer student, please make her feel welcome." The girl standing by her was wearing pink from head to toe. Her shiny dark brown hair was gorgeous. _Wow, _Mittie thought to herself,_ She's wearing more lip-gloss than I own._

"Oh dear," said the Dragon-Lady. "I'm sorry Miss Primrose, it doesn't look like we have a desk for you today. My apologies. You may have Miss James's desk."

"Excuses me?" Mittie said with her mouth agape. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I don't 'kid', Matlyda." The Dragon-Lady said with an almost sneer. "You may ask next door if they have an extra-desk."

Grumbling, she stood up and left to the next room. She turned just before she left to see Valerie Primrose giggling next to Charlie, who, for the first time Mittie had ever seen, was smiling. After leaving the room, she wondered why it bothered her so much that Charlie and Valerie Primrose seemed to be hitting it off. She had just met Charlie and he seemed not to want to have anything to do with her, so why shouldn't that girl sit by him?

The class next door was a math class, which Mittie generally tried to avoid on principle, but there seemed to be no other way to get a desk. Reading the door, she realized that not only was it a math class for juniors. As a freshman, she didn't know very many juniors, but she figured that make this embarrassing trip a little more bearable.

After knocking gently on the door, she opened it and popped her head in.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," She began. "I was wondering if you had an extra desk? See we got a new student and we were already using all the desks and—"

"Yes, yes," The teacher, a balding man in a sweater vest, interrupted. "Archer, help her carry the spare."

A tall boy in the back of the class stood up and walked over to an empty desk. Mittie hurried over to help and the two started to the door. The teacher interrupted again, "And Nat?"

"Yes sir?" The boy answered.

"Don't be all day."

"Yes sir."

But as soon as they got out of the classroom, he set his end down and leaned against the locker. Puzzled, Mittie set her end of the desk down, too.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Taking a break." He smirked. "What are _you_ doing?"

"Following your lead, I guess." And then it was silent. It was Nat who broke the silence.

"So, what are you skipping right now?"

"I thought we were just taking a break," Mittie noticed that his spiky dark brown hair fell very nicely against his forehead. It was almost artistic.

"Same thing." He said.

"English with Mrs. Swift."

"Ew! You have the Dragon-Lady first period? That sucks, kid." Actually, she noticed, everything about him was artistic, from his clothes to his posture. He obviously didn't have to try to be cool. He just was.

"I know right! I'm Mittie, by the way," She smiled.

"Nat."

"Put 'er there." Mittie said. She extended his hand to shake his He gave her a skeptical look, but accepted the gesture. The second their hands touched, he pulled his hand back like it was on fire. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said quickly. "Let's get this thing to the Dragon's Den."

The two of them said nothing the rest of the way. When they got into the class, all heads turned to see what was going on. With a weak smile, Mittie dragged her desk to a spot near the back and Nat didn't seem happy on the way out.

_Gee,_ Mittie thought to herself,_ and I thought I knew most everyone at school._

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Secrets, Secrets

Nathaniel Archer was different. He had always been different; it was something he liked about himself. Other people tended to appreciate it a little less. When he was little, he had been called "scary" and his report cards had always come home with remarks like:

"Nathaniel has been uncooperative with his lessons." (2nd grade.)

"As an educator, I am concerned for Nathaniel's social progress." (5th grade.)

"Nat doesn't get along well with others in his class. Is something going on at home?" (8th grade.)

It wasn't a big deal to him. His parents briefly sent him to a therapist, an uptight woman who looked like Hilary Clinton. She had asked Nat a lot of questions about problems he didn't have and who his friends were. The diagnosis was that he was a normal child who simply didn't like his classmates very much. He was independent.

By the time he got to high school, Nat had learned that he could paint. He could paint very well, and painting opened him up. He learned to smile, something he'd spent very little time doing as a child. Art taught Nat to be friendly, and he was finally starting to be sociable, but the damage had already been done. Everywhere he went, rumors about his reputation had followed. Even some of the teachers were afraid of him.

Nat was used to being different. He finally learned why in his junior year of high school. Nat, as it turned out, had a Destiny, too. Destiny called Nat to heroism and, gladly, he answered the call. It gave him a sense of fulfillment, but he was still completely different from every one he'd ever met until Eclipse came along. She was cool and she _got _him in a way nobody else could. She didn't know that the kids at school didn't like him. She didn't ask questions. Eclipse just understood when silence was better than words, and when to make him laugh.

He knew her secret though. Actually, Nat was kind of surprised when Mittie didn't recognize _him._ Then, he realized that she might never see him the same way again if she knew who he was and what people thought of him. Usually, he wouldn't care what the fuck anybody thought of him, but she made him care. She made him notice things about people and himself he hadn't before and he was determined to find out how to make her like him back. He was going to be sure that nothing anybody else thought ever influenced her.

xXx

Some people are more determined than others. It's just a fact of life. Not many people were more determined than Valerie Primrose. Unlike the typical teenager, she already knew her purpose in life and exactly why she was where she was. She had it all figured out.

Also unlike the typical teenaged girl, Valerie was royalty. In fact, Val was not this girl's real name at all. Her name was in actuality Fuchsia and she was Queen of the UnderRealm, an evil kingdom. The purpose of this kingdom was to restore ancient power to the Queen. There was a time when Fuchsia sat on the throne and when the Moon Queen silenced the Darkness, her spirit was concealed for centuries until the day when Darkness would once again awaken.

But Fuchsia didn't so much care about her crown or her throne; she was looking for something much bigger and much more important: Love.

When she had sat on the throne, so many years ago, there was a Prince on Earth and she had loved him, dearly. They had never really spoken, but she was sure that if they had, they would have fallen in love. Now she was back, and felt his presence in this town. Soon Prince Elis would be hers for good.

The plan to go into the high school was really more of a whim than a structured plan for finding the Prince, but she had to show Cerulean, her head servant, that it really was her desire to find him. Once she got into the high school, there was no turning back. He had spent time in that building—lots of time. He was there. She just couldn't pinpoint who he was.

Perhaps the dark boy in the English class was him, they did have the same eyes, but there was something very different about this boy. He wasn't like the others, but he certainly wasn't giving off Elis's exact energy either. What was so different about him?

XxX

"You're seriously not going to believe what she did today." Charlie Goodman was interrupting Nat's process.

"Woah, there, lover boy. Be kind, rewind." Nat replied, organizing his paint onto his pallet in just the right way: close enough to fit lots of colors, but far enough between that they wouldn't run. Charlie was a good kid, a freshman, and Nat was simultaneously giving him art and girl advice. Charlie liked to start second period art by diving right into the girl stuff, while Nat liked to at least pretend to look productive.

"_She,_" Charlie began again, "She thought that she could just walk in today like we were suddenly the best of friends! She was, like, normal, too: as if she hadn't stomped on my heart Friday!"

"Man, that's a good thing, isn't it?" He made small streaks of yellow on the canvas. "That means she's noticing you."

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want her to notice me anymore."

"Liar."

"Okay, maybe I still like her."

"Do you realize that you've never actually told me her name?" Nat said with a knowing smile. "Does she have one or what?"

Charlie turned red. He combed his fingers through his dark hair. This was the girl he had been crazy about since the first day of school. He had spent the entire year trying to find a way to make his "big move" (all guys have a big move, by the way, whether or not they ever go through with it is another story.). That is, until she had finally confirmed his suspicions by proving to him that she actually did not even know he existed. She didn't even know his name.

"You should have seen her face, though. I was like 'I'm Charlie' and she was all 'Could you BE a bigger loser?' It was written all over her face." Charlie went on.

"Goodman. The name?"

"… Matylda…" He mumbled.

"What was that?" Nat said, dipping his brush in the gray paint.

"Mittie. Mittie James." Nat dropped his paint brush and his jaw.

xxx

Memorial Park at midnight was usually only inhabited by stray cats, squirrels and other such animals. It was silent. No sound from anywhere, except the beating of Mittie James's heart. She wasn't exactly sure what it was that brought her there on that warm May night, but she had sneaked out of the house anyway. Sometimes, Mittie found, there was a thing called Destiny and when it tells you to get out of bed at 12 a.m. and go to a park 3 blocks from your house, you ought to listen to it.

Destiny had its reasons.

Sailor Spring, her recent ally in justice, was already there when she arrived— he actually looked rather heroic in the heat of battle. He was pulling his own weight in an intense encounter with two Shadow Men (origin: unknown, objective: evil). She knew that he could probably use her help. Behind cover of a large willow tree, she changed into Sailor Eclipse, a pretty sailor soldier.

"Did I miss much?" She asked as she roundhouse kicked one of the Shadow Men in the back of the head.

"Nope. Blue-Hair Dude's long gone, as usual." The 'Blue-Hair Dude' was the one who created the ever-annoying Shadow Men that wreaked havoc on the small suburban town of Gordonsville. He seemed to be trying to collect energy, but the duo of Sailor Soldiers were less than clueless when it came to this man's ultimate goal. "Eclipse!" Spring shouted. "Quick, to the right!"

"What?" Sailor Eclipse turned her head as a reflex to the direction of his voice. The firm fist of a Shadow Man sunk into her jaw. She had learned to try and avoid touching the Shadow Men. Every little touch from one would send shivers and chills up her spine. It was hard to explain. Like their very skin was made up of pure hatred. She quickly collected herself from the concrete.

"ECLIPSE STARLIGHT BEAM!" Shoots of light came from her index fingers that intertwined to form one solid beam. The Shadow Man grew weaker and Eclipse looked over her shoulder to see Spring landing hit after hit and punch after punch into the gut of the second Shadow Man.

The Shadow Men were growing weaker and fading at the edges. Now, she decided, was the best time to strike the final attack. She focused all of her energy into the palms of her hands, which began to glow with strange golden light that sent warmth through her entire body.

"ECLIPSE LIGHT SHROUD!"

And then at last, the Shadow Men were finally gone. They evaporated away like Magic.

"It worked, Spring!" She giddily cheered. "It worked."

He smiled. She loved it when he did that. His smile was inviting, it made her feel at home: like little pieces of her soul were hidden from her and she only really felt totally like herself when he was smiling at her.

"That's… oh, god," he said as his smile faded into a grimace. He cradled his hand and an expression of anguish crossed his face. His white glove glistened in the moonlight, red with his blood.

"Spring! What is it?" She said taking his hand. "Let me see it." She tenderly touched his palm. "Does that hurt a lot?"

"No, I just—OW!" he yelped.

"Okay, come with me. There's a first aid kit on the roof."

The second "their" warehouse was in sight, he started to smile again. It was their special place. The place they had first decided to be friends.

"Race you to the ladder!" He shouted as he took off.

"Wait!" She called after him. "I thought you were injured!"

Naturally, he beat her there. Despite the head start, he was a good 5 inches taller than her so his legs were longer to begin with. Spring scaled up the ladder at a brisk pace even with his bleeding hand. Eclipse followed. He offered her his good hand at the top.

"Okay, you better slow down there," she grabbed the little first aid kit she had taken up after school one day. She saw that there was also a radio that Spring must have brought. Unwrapping a bandage, she went back to where Spring was. "Here we go."

"Hey," She started wrapping his hand. "Do you think we know each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, think about it. You and I must live close-ish otherwise it would be hard for the both of us to end up in the same fights, right?"

"Right…" He agreed slowly, obviously uncomfortable with the topic, but she couldn't understand why.

"We could see each other everyday and not even know it." She was thinking of Charlie, who had a bad attitude, but gave off the same kind of energy that Spring did.

"I guess we could." He agreed, with his words, but his voice told a different story.

"What's so wrong about that?"

"We're in a war here, Eclipse! Don't you get it? This isn't playing dress up or pretending to be superheroes. This is for real, and if you ever got hurt on my account, well, I wouldn't be able to deal with it." Suddenly, Spring seemed to be overcome with a fiery passion that she barely recognized. Usually, he was so cool.

"Someday, you know," Eclipse said after a long pause, "Someday, we're going to meet. Have you already decided not I'm not worth getting to know?"

"Tell you what, kid," He said taking her hand. "I think you're awesome, so when this whole thing is over, there won't be anything to keep the two of from meeting, with real names and everything." He knew full well that they had already met, but protecting her was a higher priority than the truth for the time being.

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now go home and go to bed, it's getting late."


End file.
